Washed Out.
Within and Without.
Weird World.
Reviewer – Alex Yau.
As the chillwave sub-genre is ripped apart by bloggers faster than they invented it, it is a credit to Ernest Greene (aka Washed Out) that while Memory Tapes and Tory Y Moi move slowly away from the tag, chillwave’s main star is still revelling in it at his own pace, only releasing his first long-player Within and Without at its apparent demise. Alas the importance of Ernest Greene doesn’t quite meet what we expect. He is sitting a little too comfortably like a soap opera couch romanticist, although there are still quality moments.
Retaining hazy flashbacks from Life of Leisure – an EP that opened with pages of internet buzz, with limited 12-inches selling twice as fast and surprisingly only reaching these shores at a later date – the blissful frolicking synths of ‘Amor Fati’ is the album’s ‘New Theory’. ‘You and I’ is a dawdling ‘Hold Out’ made more sensual by the sexual whispers of Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek. Along with other glowing moments, like the angelic beating keys of ‘Soft’ and the church-like echoes of ‘A Dedication’, there is an obvious objective for Greene. It’s a more restrained and romanticised lucidity in contrast to the beat-heavy Life of Leisure. With Life of Leisure originally written in Greene’s bedroom on a laptop, Within and Without now aims to reflect live surroundings through individual instrumentation and this certainly adds new character. Greene’s frail state of mind is reflected through his muffled, ghostly voice on ‘Within and Without’, intentionally dreary as if he were mourning the death of a loved one.
The main downfall of this record if that it moves with the pace of such a procession. So buried is Greene’s head in these atmospheric hazes and romantic shimmers that it all gets a bit samey. The blossoming glow of ‘Before’ becomes a carbon copy of ‘Amor Fati’ and as you progress to ‘Far Away’ you feel like you’ve heard it three or four tracks previously. That’s not to say this is a weak release. At its best points, Within and Without is a sensual record which shows that Greene has perfected what he does, but if you’re looking for a romantic soundtrack, expect less Erin Brockovich and more Mills and Boon.
Washed Out – Eyes Be Closed
